


Of Alternate Timelines

by Levi8



Series: Facets [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cisco Ramon and Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells bickering, Communication, Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells NOT being an asshole, Family Feels, Gen, Jesse "Quick" Wells being brilliant and sassy, Minor Cisco Ramon/Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells, POV Cisco Ramon, Post-The Flash (TV 2014) Season 4, Pseudoscience, The Flash (TV 2014) Season 5, it's a miracle, like so much bickering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:26:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29322390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Levi8/pseuds/Levi8
Summary: After Vibe is declared dead, Cisco starts seeing two different realities overlapping. He goes to Earth-2 to see if the double vision follows him.Jesse ends up explaining what Jay had come to refer to as Frequency Specific Amplitude Inconsistencies and Fluctuations. Harry ends up explaining his road less traveled.OrJesse and Cisco bond over science and Cisco and Harry have a couple of much needed discussions to clear the air.
Relationships: Cisco Ramon & Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells, Cisco Ramon & Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells & Jesse "Quick" Wells, Cisco Ramon & Jesse "Quick" Wells, Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells & Jesse "Quick" Wells
Series: Facets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2154096
Kudos: 12





	1. Quick's got Questions

**Author's Note:**

> Post Elseworlds 1 alternative to Cisco's absence in episode 4 of season 5. (I realize elseworlds wasn't time travel, but bear with me.)
> 
> Also, while this entry can be read as a standalone, and is not specifically harrisco, the following entries in the 'Facets' series will be.

Cisco crashed on the Earth-2 motel bed with a groan, staring at the ceiling. He hadn't been sure if getting over undetected would end up being feasible, but he'd been too desperate to really care.

Once Cisco arrived on Earth-2 he'd traded in some gold for cash at a pawn shop in Star City then picked a random motel in a decent looking part of Opal City to crash at. Even down Vibe functionality the extrapolator had made quick work of it all. 

Still it was unlikely that he would have managed everything undetected, so before he'd headed to Star City he'd left a note in Earth-2's breach room. He'd left it on the computer monitor displaying the tracking algorithms for cellular dead zones and breach activity with a brief explanation about seeing overlapping realities and just needing a break… from everyone and everything. 

If anyone was still around to notice on Earth-2, he hoped that the note would be enough for him to be left to his own devices for a couple of days.

As it was, only an hour after his arrival on Earth-2, Cisco could finally close his eyes in peace. He knew he should really get changed for bed. It was nearing the dead of night after all, but as soon as he felt an unexpected blast of wind he'd been thankful not to have gotten that far yet.

"You know, I could have been getting dressed?" Cisco mumbled in minor indignation that she hadn't at least knocked.

"You weren't." Cisco sighed and opened his eyes to see Jesse in her full Quick getup, arms crossed and looking mildly impatient.

"I left a note." 

"Yeah, In half legible scratch writing." 

"Sorry, I was going a little insane," Cisco raised his bandaged hands looking at them with regret. He'd been in a bit of a rush. "This is the only other Earth I'm remotely familiar with that wouldn't get me immediately shot on sight."

"Earth-3 is-"

"-I am not familiar with, besides I thought you were still over there with Jay."

Jesse looked a little taken aback by that but then something like understanding crossed her face. "Mmmhmmm. And that my Dad would be over there too?"

"Something like that," He sighed and sat up turning to face her. "Look-"

"-Wally could have taken you. Even though we weren't there, nor have we been, Jay could have helped you."

Cisco blinked. He could have sworn Jesse had left with Jay to go back to Earth-3. He shook his head, getting his thoughts back on track, "I don't need help, I just need a couple days to heal on an earth where I'm not seeing double." 

Jesse squinted at him before raising an eye brow, "Do you know why you're seeing double?"

"No I don't because I. Am. In. Pain. and haven't exactly been on my A+ game lately, okay." Cisco threw his hands up in the air for a moment to emphasize his point before placing them back on his lap.

"Then let me help." Jesse uncrossed her arms and walked closer to Cisco, who then pulled his arms back in to cross his own.

"It's not your world. It's not your problem," Cisco insisted. 

Jesse stopped only a few feet from him and rolled her eyes. "You've really got another thing coming if you actually think that." 

Cisco sighed looking up to the ceiling, really not wanting to deal with this. "Jesse your father almost got himself killed trying to help us, he left because he wanted to spend time with you. I'm not going to ask either of you for more."

"You want to trade points on who's risked more for who here?" She asked clearly growing more agitated and crossing her arms again.

"That's not the point." It had stopped being about anything like that the moment Barry had decided they'd help save Jesse, even after Harry admitted to betraying them.

"No the point is my Dad told me not to contact any of you unless you contacted us first and if you did, then to not ask questions. Well, you're here and I'm going to help you. I'm not going to ask questions, but you are going to tell me what really happened. Get some sleep. I'll pick you up at 9 AM."

"I," -Jesse left as quickly as she'd arrived, with the last word- "guess I'll see you in the morning."


	2. Traveling in a Truck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco gets Jesse back on the same page as everyone else and Jesse pulls no punches on her fathers current state.

He was waiting outside and ready to go by 9, he wasn't expecting the truck though. Jesse popped the passengers side door open in front of him.

"Come with me if you want to live." 

Cisco snorted in delight as he got in. "Did you drive four hours just to say that?"

"No, I drove four hours so you could have plenty of time to tell me what the hell happened, but i think Dad would be disappointed if he found out I drove all this way and hadn't opened with that. Anyway, I come bearing gifts of licorice, big belly burger breakfast, and coffee." 

Cisco grumbled in acceptance of the clear bribe.

"Genesis, was a terrible movie by the way." Cisco mentioned, slurping his first bit of coffee.

"It was a good time!" She retorted, putting the truck back in drive and starting to move out.

"Does your father know about your terrible tastes?"

"Yes, now stop deflecting and spill." Cisco sighed, digging in to the B3 bag and started from the moment Harry came over with the breakup cube.

It took about two hours, a pit stop, and a good cry to get through everything up until the point Cisco had jumped Earth-1 ship the previous evening. At the pit stop he took a moment to look at himself in a mirror. He still looked miserable but they needed to get going. When they both got back in the truck with snacks and electrolyte drinks, Jesse didn't honestly look that much better. She started the truck and asked without asking,

"Just to clarify, when you said not on your A+ game…"

"I meant that I'd been dealing with a mutual breakup with Cynthia; losing Harry, and then not getting all of him back, not to mention more time travel shenanigans by young Ms. West-Allen, yet another damn Wells, no offence," 

"None taken."

"Getting my hands sliced to hell, dealing with the existence of meta tech, and not being able to vibe but still occasionally seeing two versions of current events since getting my hands sliced to hell. So yeah not on my A+ game." Cisco was still suffering from the headache he'd garnered from his pit stop cry and was feeling mildly ornery about everything. Putting everything back out in the open like that again wasn't improving his mood at all.

Jesse nodded at him as she turned back on the freeway, "Right. Yeah, no. What you need, is a vacation." 

"This was kinda going to be one." Well, it was going to be one as far as he was concerned, compared to his evident lack of any within the past five years.

"No Cisco, this was going to be a couple of days to decompress and you were probably going to get sick from it."

"Alcohol has been handling the decompressing just fine." Jesse visibly side eyed him while keeping them on the road. It was almost comical, "Don't @ me, it hasn't been much or very often."

"I'd hope not, might mess with some of the tests were going to run."

Cisco wondered for a moment at how similar to her father she'd just sounded like and opted to question it, "And those tests would be what and where?"

"Dad had his own lab aside from the breach room at STAR labs which I've kind of taken over. We might not need it, but I've got some analysis equipment we've been using for my dad that I can adjust for you."

Cisco shook his head knowing she couldn't see it, but feeling the need to anyway. "There's nothing to adjust for on this earth. I'm only seeing the present as it is." 

She snorted at that which was completely uncalled for, "Trust me on this one." 

He glared at her, not that she could see it before deciding to not to pick this particular battle. "Alright." 

He was quiet for a moment debating if he really wanted to know or if Jesse would even be willing to talk about it. She'd pried everything out of him via bribe, not that he hadn't needed it. Boy had he needed it, just to talk it out. If she was willing to talk about it he didn't want her to break down while driving if it was bad. He asked anyway.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want, but uh, how is he?"

Jesse blew out a strong breath, eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead of her, and let Cisco really have it.

"He has most of his memories thankfully but his neurons are firing at just over half the rate of an average human and on bad days it takes him about twice as long as it should for thoughts to form sentences and even longer for complex sentences.

"Most of his academic knowledge is just gone. He's been pretty quick all things considered about learning basic math and algebra again. He hasn't lost his affinity for science and he's quick on the uptake for the theories but has none of the mathematical comprehension to understand where those theories come from or their purpose. Pretty sure the only reason he's trying to pick back up on the terminology is so I don't have to dumb everything down for him.

"He can still pull most of his favorite quotes from movies and books he liked but some of the more obscure media couldn't interest him less. He's kinder, more connected to the current moment and the people around him.

"He's seeing a therapist and a neurologist. He's actually talking to me like an adult. He's trying so damn hard and it..." She started choking up and paused.

Cisco didn't know what the hell to say. They'd all figured it would be rough for Jesse and Harry, they just hadn't known how much. Harry hadn't stuck around long enough for them to really gauge anything. Cisco had already told her as much. There really wasn't much he could say except the obvious, 

"You're family you know. Both you and your dad are welcome to our Earth any time by yourself or together, and if you ever want any of us to stop by, all you have to do is ask." 

She took a moment then nodded, "Thank you Cisco."

They spent the remaining two hours without conversation as they both processed everything while strange Earth-2 music played quietly from the radio.

At some point, emotionally and mentally drained, he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll meet back up with Harry and start getting the the meat and bones of this thing next chapter. If I get done editing early, I might even post it on singles awareness day 😉


	3. Cisco wants a Scanner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry claimed it was balance. It wasn't.  
> Jesse said Harry wasn't the same. He's not.  
> Cisco wanted a vacation and all he got was an amplitude variance cartograph and this stupid scanner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy hallmark day dear readers.

After lunch they had walked though STAR labs and no one gave either of them a second glance, just an occasional nod of acknowledgment and a good afternoon. They passed Hewitt again but the man was clearly otherwise occupied and hopefully hadn't seen Cisco suppressing the urge to shy away from him. 

Jesse's lab, formerly Harry's, as it turned out was about twice the size of Ciscos lab. Oddly enough when he walked in, he could have mistaken it for his own if not for the lab set up angled to the right where that extra room came in to play. The right side of the room had a couple of cots set in the back and a decently sized square table that easily could have been an executive meeting space.

Cisco honestly wasnt sure what he was expecting the lab to look like, but he sure as hell wasn't expecting to see Harry already there, sitting at that fancy table facing towards the door. Harry didn't look up when they walked in, likely so focused on the book he was reading as to have not heard them.

Cisco opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out, not even a croak. He felt Jesse nudge him and he looked up to see her with a finger to her lips. Staying quiet then. He closed his mouth and nodded.

She guided him over to the workbench opposite of Harry and pointed him to the chair. She grabbed what looked like a ruler and pointed it at him sideways. After a few seconds it beeped quietly and Jesse held up her hand and mouthed 'five minutes.' He nodded and sat down in the chair she had motioned to as she left the room.

Cisco looked over to the man team flash had come to love, and had nearly completely lost. He was bowed over reading what looked like a college text book, pencil in hand, idly twirling between his fingers.

It had only been a couple of weeks but Harry looked like he'd aged a couple of years. Maybe it was just the amber hue of Earth-2 or maybe it was the lines setting in on his face. Either way Cisco really just wanted to hug the man.

He remembered, vividly, every hug they'd had to date. None more so than when Harry's brain was on it's last legs. He remembered that one even better than the one they'd had after their Khan quote off not long thereafter. 

That hug, with just the two of them, it was... it was a lot of things, unquantifiable things.

Cisco resolved to not be needy, to not take a hug unless it was offered, but seeing him again like this was like ripping his hand wounds open again. It hurt and there wasn't much he could do about it except wrap the wounds in gauze and wait for them to heal.

Harry turned the page and wrote something in the book before marking his place and closing the book. He took his glasses off then stretched his arms behind his head as he sighed before popping a couple of bones.

Finally, finally he looked up and gasped softly as his eyes widened in surprise. Cisco smiled as the extra years seemed to melt off somehow.

"That's some serious concentration you've got going on there." 

Harry blushed a bit, and stood, taking a moment to respond, "Yeah well, relearning the basics takes some serious concentration Ramon."

Cisco nodded, pleased that Harry's snark wasn't gone, he was just a little bit slower. He watched as Harry shifted his weight, taking in the rest of the room, avoiding looking at Cisco as he asked,

"Why… no, what are you doing… no, what are you here for?" 

Cisco considered griping at him for stumbling over phraseology when Cisco was used to Harry being a rude asshat, but for the sake of not discouraging politeness, he opted for answering the question instead.

"Well, I wish I could say that I was here to check up on you, but if that had been on the agenda, then I'd have hopped over to Earth-3."

"Earth-3? Why would I be on Earth-3?" Harry squinted, likely trying to remember why he'd be there. Given that Jesse had the same reaction, Cisco was starting to question if Nora hadn't pulled a Barry on them.

"Last we all checked Jay was going to be training Jesse full time to take over for him, and you were going to spend time with Jesse, so…"

"Oh." Harry almost visibly deflated, those extra years coming right back. Cisco realized it was his smile, even just a small smirk, that could change the way Harry looked. Cisco had noticed it before, but he'd never really taken the time to appreciate it.

"I just came over for a break. Apparently I wasn't subtle enough though and your terrifying daughter tracked me down." 

Harry snorted and smiled again, "What kind of break?"

Cisco sighed as he raised his bandaged hands and reluctantly looked away from Harry down to the assumed culprit of his double earth vision. 

Cisco had been prepared to give him a very watered down version of events but in the few seconds he'd taken to gather his thoughts Harry had made his way over to a chair right next to him and lightly grabbed at both of his wrists. Cisco, for whatever reason he couldn't justify, let Harry take both his hands in his.

"Ramon, what the hell happened?"

"It's a long story."

"It's only been a couple of weeks!?"

"Yes and what a year those weeks have been." Cisco looked up from their hands to meet Harry's gaze and smiled sadly. Harry, either consciously or absentmindedly brushed his thumbs lightly across Cisco's bandaged hands. As he did so, he could see Harry trying to get a read on him, Cisco wasn't sure if there was anything there for him to gather. He kind of hoped not.

There was a slight hiss near the door to the lab as it opened and closed behind Jesse. Cisco turned from Harry to look at her. She looked a little shocked at first but shock quickly morphed into a bright smile.

"Jesse." Harry had looked over as well and Cisco could see the calm smile that accompanied her name out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey Dad, didn't think you'd be in today. Cisco and I already ate, but I got you lunch while Cisco's scans ran." Harry let go of Cisco's hands and stood up to meet her. Cisco crossed his arms slightly unnerved by the amount of care Harry had just exhibited. 

This wasn't balance. 

Cisco did his best to halt the approaching wave of guilt and grief attempting to attack his lungs.

"Thanks Quick. You didn't have to." She handed him his B3 bag. At least some things didn't change. Harry opened the bag and Jesse scooted around him.

"I wanted to, it's not often that you venture out these days. Speaking of scans, while my dad eats I'm stealing you to go over the cartograph results."

"Cartograph?"

"Mmhmm." She pulled Cisco out of the chair he'd been sitting in and half pushed half dragged him out of the room. He could feel Harry's eyes following them, until the door closed. Jesse let go of him then and motioned for him to follow.

"You know, normally I'd be breaching up a storm over getting manhandled like that." 

"Your face was not being subtle. I needed you out before dad got a look."

"A look at what?" He asked, wondering if there had been something there for Harry to get a read on after all.

She paused outside a fairly nondescript door and turned to look at Cisco, "Loss. He's still my dad. But he's not who he was, it doesn't take much time to be able to tell that. He knows that, and he ran because he didn't want to see it from any of you. Especially you."

Cisco froze for a moment at the tone and the phrasing but relaxed minutely when no one came at him with a phase punch though his chest.

"I'll try and keep it under wraps then." She nodded in thanks, either missing or ignoring the pun, and opened the door.

It turned out to be a small room, something Cisco was pretty sure ended up being relegated to a janitorial closet on Earth-1. There was just a small console to the right and a decent sized square pad in front of them. Jesse pulled up what looked like a fuzzy 3D hologram of him. In very different clothes, and then another even fuzzier hologram of him now.

Cisco wasn't entirely sure what she was doing but she merged the two images and did what almost looked like an image negative, except there was a lot of red. Almost his entire outline was different. 

"You see all that red?"

"Yeah. What is that?" He looked away from it back to Jesse.

"That," she pointed to the strange projection, "is a visualization of the vibrational difference between now and when you came here with my Dad to come get me two years ago. His panic room has auto scanners for anyone who passes through the door, which is where the first scan came from."

"So I'm literally vibrating differently?" Cisco glanced back at the projection and started getting an idea of where this was going.

"Yeah. I don't really have enough data to compare between realities, but this seems to indicate that um..." she paused, grimacing.

"I'm not the same Cisco?" He completed the thought for her. She crossed her arms, and looked at the floor.

"We have no way of knowing if this is just a change from Flashpoint, given we don't have any scans from after that, or something resulting from Nora, or something else entirely." She looked back up at Cisco and nodded her head back towards the projection, "But, direct your attention to your eyes."

Which he had definitely already been looking at. His eyes had the same frequency, they weren't red, "Right, so not all of me is different?"

"Mmhmm," she nodded, then looked back at Cisco. "Makes me wonder about the old adage, the eyes are a window to the past."

"Soul," Cisco corrected.

"What?" Jesse squinted her eyes at him in confusion.

"The eyes are a window into the soul." He looked away from what was essentially his vibrational variance report back over to Jesse.

"Your Earth is weirdly superstitious."

Cisco rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well quantum mechanics haven't made their way into Earth-1's colloquial understanding of extra-natural happenings." 

Jesse just raised an eye brow in dismissal, "Regardless, you just probably need to get a pair of glasses normal glasses in your amplitude to focus on your version of reality."

"Because they'll be vibrating at the correct," Cisco paused about to say frequency, but course corrected, raising his eye brows questioningly, "amplitude? Even if my eyes aren't. Right." It made sense, but it was also not with the terminology he'd expected.

"Yes, amplitude." She nodded, a gleam in her eye, waiting for the question that must be asked.

"Okay, you gonna explain that?" She grinned, nodding, and it honestly looked so incredibly like Harry when he was showing off his 'superior' knowledge. 

"Jay has been keeping an eye on the other known earths after Barry pulled his quark matter from the speed force to stabilize the nuke."

"Experimental fission engine," Cisco interjected, more for clarification on events than out of necessity.

Jesse rolled her eyes, "Yes that. It was fine at first but your Earth has been fluctuating since shortly before my Dad came back. Other Earths have been fluctuating for longer. 

"These earths with what Jay has dubbed 'Frequency Specific Amplitude Inconsistencies and Fluctuations' have overlapping amplitudes. It's the same frequency, so it's not a completely separate earth like ours are, but it's like all of the possibile timelines the earths with FSAIF have are showing up now instead of just the timeline with the same amplitude as ours."

"And whatever happend after Nora started changing things, has me ending up here instead of with the Harry and Jessie I know?" Cisco concluded, feeling slightly gutted.

"I would say it's possible that your earth is the one we were at after Flashpoint given we didn't bother taking scans of any of you simply because we didn't know that there was a difference between reality and timeline, but given you thought I'd be on Earth-3, probably yeah."

"And the Harry and Jesse that left for your Earth after Zoom and had been in the speed lab before might not have just stopped existing when they left." She looked at him for a moment, eying him critically before nodding her head.

"It's possible."

Cisco nodded in acceptance, but not really sure how he felt about it all. "I should probably leave then."

"You should stay for dinner first. Your reality won't fluctuate prominence for a while yet." Cisco squinted his eyes at her.

"Fluctuate prominence?" That sounded mildly concerning.

"The amplitude synced up to our amplitude changes every three seconds on a cycle of a little over 31.4 hours."

"ThaaAt's a lot of timelines! Wait, did your dad hit the right amplitude coming back?"

"Our scans say that he did. Without the fluctuations on our earth, best guess is that like amplitude finds like amplitude." 

"Huh. Man, Sliders could have been so much different if they'd had this kind of data." A hand landed on his shoulder and Cisco did his best not to jump or make a sound, but by Harry's delighted humming, he hadn't entirely succeded.

"Pretty sure there were a couple of worlds that actually did. Almost got home once if not for the squeaky gate -"

"- Not being squeaky." Cisco turned from Jesse to look at Harry, looking far to pleased with himself, "You guys have Sliders over here too?"

"All of the good universes do." Harry looked over Cisco's head over to Jesse, "So he's not ours?"

"He's only four picometers off from pre flashpoint, but given known discrepancies, no." Harry squinted his eyes and Jesse waited him out.

"Four trillionths of a meter?"

"Yep. Cisco's window home will be back up for 3 seconds in 17 hours and 42 minutes."

Harry dropped his hand from Cisco's shoulder and muttered,

"Pi seconds."

Jesse snorted and replied, "Technically yes."

"It's engineering, not math. Three seconds." Cisco added, just wanting to be sure everyone was on the same page, but noooo Harry wanted precision,

"Pi," Harry crossed his arms.

Cisco turned his full attention to Harry who had gone full supergirl hands on hips pose, and really, Cisco just wanted to bicker at that point.

"Three."

"Pi."

"Three. 

"Pi!"

"Three!"

"PIE!"

Cisco rolled his eyes and crossed his arms to match Harry, "Look I agree pie is delicious, but I'd rather underestimate time rather than overestimate time. Overestimating time leads to reality destroying singularities."

Harry shook his head, "No. Paradoxes lead to reality destroying singularities."

Cisco looked to the low ceiling and compromised, "Okay, both lead to reality destroying singularities."

"Both?"

"Both."

"Both is good." Harry nodded and Cisco went in for the kill.

"Three seconds."

Harry rolled his eyes and turned around to walk out the door with a smirk on his face.

"Fine."

Cisco grinned at the win and Jesse coughed to get their attention. 

"If anyone asks I don't know either of you." She turned the display off and grabbed the scanner as she turned to follow her father.

"Everyone here knows you're my daughter Jesse." Cisco walked out after them, apparently making their way back to their lab.

"That's besides the point," she replied.

Harry opened the door to the lab and made his way back to where he'd been sitting earlier.

"I still have a couple of meetings I put off until this afternoon. Can you two stay out of trouble?"

"Yes." Cisco and Harry replied in sync and as Harry sat down he eyed Cisco warily. 

"I am studying and I need quiet to focus."

"Give me that handy scanner and i will provide you with my silence." Cisco leaned on the table across from Harry with eye brows raised.

"You're offering me a miracle for a scanner?" 

Cisco snorted, "No, I'm simply offering the highly improbable event of me keeping my mouth shut in order to take one of those scanners apart." 

Harry sat back putting his glasses back on, "Oh, so I could have been paying for peace with Earth-2 gadgets this entire time?"

Cisco hummed at the prospect, "Maybe. Maybe not. My self control only goes so far."

"Don't we all know it."

"Don't play, you love bickering."

"With you? Maybe."

Cisco pursed his lips at Harry's completely deadpan blow, "You're still a dick, I see."

"Well, your still a-"

"-Anyway," Jesse interrupted them, "Cisco you can have this scanner since it already has your data on it, no you can't take it back to your earth. My computer is over there and the password is my earth is better than yours. First letters caps, e's are threes and a's are at signs." 

Cisco squinted at her, "Noted, as is your controversial opinion."

Jesse laughed and kissed the top of her father's head and left them to their own devices. Harry was already back in his textbook by the time she walked out and Cisco did his best to keep his end of the agreement. 

It wasn't as difficult as he'd thought it would be, mostly because half the time he was engaged in figuring out what made the scanner tick and the other half was spent looking at Harry's reflection in Jesse's far right monitor.

It may not have been his Harry, but it was so very close. They'd gone down the same path, met the same new beginning, claiming balance over regret.

Over the course of the next three hours they were each in their own bubble in the same space. A bigger space than their lab, than Cisco's lab, but still in the same space. That realization hit him time and again, and he kept pushing the waves of grief away. 

It hadn't just been Cynthia that he'd been grieving over, it had been his lab partner too. Cisco wasn't sure how exactly he'd missed it. Truth be told, with every thing that had been going on, it was completely understandable. But... 

He missed Harry fiercely. 

Balance or no, same or no, this Harry was still very much Harry Wells and the more Cisco thought about it, the more he realized this feeling, being near Harry, had come to feel comfortable, like home. That feeling explained why his lab felt so barren now.

If (and that was a very big if) he could figure out how to get to his Harry and Jesse; not to intrude, just to check up on them, then he would. If it was anything like this…

He wouldn't know though, unless he tried.

Harry was right, even Iris had agreed. Family is important, real family anyway. Earth-2, his Earth-2, Harry... and Jesse were just as important as team flash. He'd make time for them, if he was welcomed anyway.

Maybe, just maybe, the rest of team flash would too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So where's this Cisco from? Does it matter?  
> You'll find out eventually and not really, respectively.


	4. Discussions for Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco gets a tour  
> Harry cooks dinner  
> Jesse eavesdrops on one helluva conversation

The house didn't look all the assuming from the front. The property did have a gate, and a fairly high wall, but the house itself wasn't overbearing. It could have been the foliage of the trees covering it up, but really it looked rather modest.

"Welcome to Casa de Wells. I'll give you the tour while Dad gets dinner started." Jesse spouted as they walked in the door, toing off their shoes.

"Don't get lost."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll be back in time to help set the table." With that she did in fact give him the grand tour. It was nothing like the glass monstrosity that Thawne had, it was rather homey, very lived in. She took him upstairs first directly to the right of the mudroom.

"So , guest room, bathroom, my room, the office/theater/den, and dad's room. All of the doors were open and the first light switch turned all of the entry lights on. The guest room was bright but sparse, the bathroom equally bright and sparse. Jesse's room was cluttered in comparison and equally bright. The den was dark with heavy wood furniture and Harry's room was just dark. The man's tendency toward dark and black clothing clearly extended to his bedding and furniture.

When Jesse was satisfied that he'd looked around enough she took him down the stairs and into the basement, complete with lab space and a pool table. There were pictures everywhere.

Cisco looked around to see pictures of Jesse, Harry, and who Cisco assumed was Jesse's mother. The two of them together, probably before Jesse was born. One or two or all three of them when Jesse was still young, and then just the two of them when she was older.

"He used to spend too much time down here, stuck in the past. He still won't clean it out, but he doesn't come down here for long any more, not at all since he's been back." Cisco heard her bitterness clear as day.

"That's what you were fighting about, wasn't it? Why he came to our Earth," She smiled at him.

"Yeah, what he did with the M.A.D 2.0 helped a lot. Helped me understand that he'll never love like that again. But I think, I think he'll be ready to try soon. I just want him to be happy, you know?" She sounded like she had in the truck, before she'd gone silent.

"Yeah. Yeah I do." Cisco looked at her and it felt like her eyes were trying to tell him something else, but he couldn't figure it out. He wasn't sure he wanted to know either. Yet. 

She took a moment to gather herself before she motioned him back upstairs. The rest of the house looked like it came out of an HGTV magazine. Modern architecture aside it wasn't bright or dark, but it felt very warm. The living room, the bathroom, Jesse's own lab, the lounge, the dining room, and at last the kitchen. The latter three of which had a very open concept design.

"I'm going to set the table, you see if my Dad needs help?"

"Alright bossy." He raised his eye brows as she just happily moved to the side and started getting dishware. 

"She is very bossy," Harry noted when Cisco was close enough to hear him. Cisco nodded in agreement.

"Your child for sure." 

Harry hummed in amused agreement, "And yet you let her boss you around." 

Cisco could feel his face do something disgruntled, unable to disagree. "It feels like we owe both of you a lot."

"You don't."

"Agree to disagree?"

"If you prefer."

"Yeah I really don't have the energy to dig in to that one, now do you you want any help?" Harry looked over from where he was at the stove in clear concern at the statement but Cisco did nothing more than raise an eyebrow at him. Harry turned back to the stove and Cisco approached him.

"What's your current hand mobility with those wraps?"

"Just don't make me try to chop anything."

"Give me a hand here then." And just because Cisco was feeling slightly vindictive he wanted clarification. 

"A hand for?"

"A hand to whisk this." Cisco stood next to Harry and nudged him away.

"Whisking. Whisking I can do." Cisco stepped in familiar with the process of making sauce from scratch and idly watched Harry go about making what looked like fancy Mac and Cheese bake. Harry moved on auto pilot, like he'd done this a thousand times. Raising Jesse, he probably had.

Harry moved around the kitchen like he had the lab and the workshop, finding things as he needed them. Getting in to Cisco's space to make adjustments on the side while Cisco handled something. Only now it was just adding the cheese in with the rest of the mix instead of adjusting loose wires. It was intimate, just as they had been. Two people in one space working around and helping eachother. All that was missing was the bickering.

Instead of the wave of grief Cisco thought would come over him, there was just a quiet joy in it.

Harry's body language hadn't changed and they had long ago learned what it took to get their point across without verbal communication on those awful early mornings and late nights when caffeine just wasn't enough. It was the same now when Harry nudged him slightly and took over while nodding his head over to the pan that still needed greasing, the can already there. He made quick work of it.

They hadn't lost this. Not completely. 

Cisco just watched him as Harry finished up. It was probably odd, but with Harry focused and getting the dish in the oven and Jesse having gtfo'd after setting the table, Cisco didn't bother to not watch him.

When everything was set in the oven Harry moved to one of the cupboards near the sink and pulled out two snifters and poured some brandy.

"No class over here. Just pouring brandy into room temperature glasses."

Harry huffed at that, "No that's still a thing over here, I just don't do it."

"So uncivilized."

"Hmm," Harry handed Cisco a glass and nodded his head over to the dining table before walking over. Cisco followed closely. After sitting down Cisco half expected Harry to down it in one go, but he didn't. Instead he sipped it, seeming to gather his thoughts as he stared at the glass he held.

"You know, that's Jesse's favorite dinner."

Cisco's eyebrows shot up, "And you trusted me to have a hand in making it?" Cisco meant it as somewhat of a joke but Harry had to go and metaphorically punch him in the gut.

"I'd trust you with anything Ramon."

"Definitely missplaced." Cisco looked away from Harry out the back door into the dark woods.

"It's not. I can give you a list of reasons to back me up."

"Please don't." Cisco shook his head, suddenly feeling unmoored. 

"Okay fine. How about just one?" 

"Harry-"

"-Ramon, look at me." Reluctantly Cisco turned his face back to him, not meeting his eyes.

"What?"

"You said there were risks and you were right. I downplayed it into a ditch, but Allen, Snow, and West-Allen were knowledgeable enough to see it if they wanted to."

Cisco wasn't sure what that had to do with trust but it felt like another gut punch and another betrayal, though none of them had meant it as such.

"They didn't."

"No, they wanted an option and I gave them one. You were the only one looking at the situation with a clear head." 

Cisco shook his head, "It was pretty far from clear and it was entirely selfish. Maybe if I'd helped you from the start-" 

Harry set his glass down on the table and leaned forward, "-No. No, don't think like that. Not being involved saved you. When I broke the inteligence booster-"

"Thinking cap," Cisco interrupted petulantly, though Harry continued on as if he hadn't.

"-Inteligence booster. If you'd been involved you could have easily built another."

"Yeah If I'd been there at the beginning I could have stopped-" Harry interrupted him again before he could get his thought out, because Harry like always, slower brain or not already knew where Cisco was going.

"-And I would have found a way around you. None of this is on you. None of it."

Cisco looked away again, fighting the tightening of his chest, "I…"

He let it sit too long because Harry's brain must have caught something post mortem.

"Wait selfish?"

Cisco bowed his head. Of course he'd pick that up. This wasn't his Harry he really had nothing to lose here, so he got if off his chest.

"Yeah. H.R. was like the annoying younger brother I never wanted and he went and died on us saving Iris. That hurt like hell. Thawne was more of a father to me than my own blood, he was the patriarch of STAR labs and of team flash. He betrayed us, killed me and stabbed all of us in the back and it fractured us, fractured me.

"Loosing my brother just straight up broke me. Loosing you would have been just as bad if not worse than loosing Dante, and I was not remotely prepared to find out what that would have been like, so yeah selfish."

Cisco felt the tears he'd been trying to fight off start to fall. Harry scraped his chair closer to Cisco from the head of the table right next to him so they were practically knee to knee. 

The feeling of Harry's hand on his cheek, wiping away the tear track that had fallen, was surprising to say the least. Harry nudging Cisco's chin up in the same manner was even more so. He'd taken his glasses off again and his gaze was unbearably close but he met it anyway.

"Selfish or not, what I'm getting at is that you were, are, smart enough to see the risk, and you cared enough to tell me no."

"For all the good it did."

Harry closed his eyes, pained, and whispered, "You're not getting it."

"Getting what?"

Harry opened his eyes, pleadingly, "I was basically brain dead. I was gone Cisco. You got me back," Harry managed to choke out, his eyes watering too.

"Not all of you." Cisco countered, which seemed to set Harry off in a different direction as he gently let go of Cisco's face and leaned back slightly.

"Yes all of me. I told you before…" he paused again, looking away. "Look, why did you and Cynthia break up?" Cisco would have reared back but Harry course corrected before he could, "No, wait. No." Harry sighed still looking away and crossed his arms. "One of. One of the reasons you didn't take the job that Josh offered you was because you didn't want your entire life to be define by 'Vibe,' right?"

It was honestly a figurative slap in the face. That hadn't been the reason. Cisco let the thought lurk in his mind but he'd never given it any credence because there had been so many other reasons not to.

"How did?" Cisco heard himself ask. He sounded half strangled. Harry looked back at him.

"I never made that choice. There have been so many times that I wish I could have taken the path that wouldn't have defined me by my IQ because that's not who I am. It's, it's what I was capable of.

"I still have a lot to relearn to function in society, it'll take time, but I'll get to that point where I'll have that choice again. You even said, it took a lot more than intelligence to raise Jesse, did you mean that?"

"Yeah, of course I did." 

Harry nodded, "I'm not dead, I'm not gone, I'm me. I'm me with the chance to take a different path. I'm me with a chance to rebuild my skillset from the ground up."

Cisco often wondered what it would be like to take Morpheus' Red pill. He supposed he now had some idea. With a sudden clarity he'd never be able to come back from, Cisco finally heard what Harry had been trying to tell him. 

No, this wasn't balance. This was a second chance. 

This was freedom absolute.

Red pill swallowed. Life view irrevocably altered.

Cisco dropped from the chair and kneeled up next to Harry, wrapping him in a hug that was quickly returned.

"I hear you Harry. I hear you."

Harry let out a staggered breath, "Good."

Not five seconds later the timer beeped. Kind of it to have waited until they were done. Cisco sighed,

"We should probably…"

"Yeah."

They let go and Cisco stood up and back, somewhat embarrassed by the move to get closer when Harry let him off the hook.

"Can you get Jesse?"

"And she would be?"

"Probably up in her room pretending she didn't hear any of that."

Cisco looked to the doorway into the living room. There was some solid space for someone to eavesdrop between there and the stairs.

"That's, yep. I'll go do that." Cisco heard Harry chuckle as Cisco did nothing less than bolt right out of there.


	5. Movie or be Moved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse suggests they watch Star Wars the original version available only on Earth-2.  
> #HanShotFirst  
> Harry and Cisco have an unexpected and quiet moment in which they define their loss

Cisco retrieved the still red eyed young woman, who clearly had in fact been listening in if the pained look she gave him was anything to go by. He'd given her a quiet hug with a small smile. He couldn't imagine he looked much better than she did, but he shooed her down for dinner anyway. They could all look miserable together. 

All it took was a look from Harry and Jesse followed her father back in to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Cisco helped himself to the admittedly delicious bake placed on the dining room table while the two of his hosts whispered quietly.

He ate slowly, still reeling from the abrupt change in weight on his shoulders. Cisco hadn't realized just how heavy that guilt was until Harry unceremoniously wiped it away like water off a ducks back.

Cisco was almost done when Harry and Jesse returned, both still red eyed and recovering. He opted to open with a compliment,

"This is surprisingly good."

"You didn't think I could cook?" Harry looked amused by the thought as he and Jesse sat down and got themselves situated.

"With how often you ate fast food, I didn't think it in your life skills toolkit." Cisco said it teasingly and Harry looked ready to take the hook and the bait,

"You-" 

And then Jesse cut the line.

"-How about Cisco gives us the cliff notes version of what's wrong with his hands." Cisco looked at Jesse feeling mildly betrayed. They started eating looking at him expectantly. 

When he'd explained things to Jesse earlier, he'd been light on the details of the new big bad. Cisco took this as undeserved retribution.

"Cicada, Cicada is what's wrong with my hands."

"Hersch?" Harry asked, Jesse furrowed her eye brows, apparently not in the loop.

"Oh, good. We could have just called you instead," Cisco rolled his eyes, "No, not Hersch."

"Who did you call?" Jesse asked.

Cisco placed his forehead on the table and muttered, "I didn't call anyone."

"Okay then. Who called who Ramon?" 

Cisco sighed and answered Harry, subjected his hosts to Earth-1's current back to the future in the past that was their present for the last three weeks. By the time they were all done and Cisco finished outright complaining, Harry decided to note on Cisco's earlier lack of hyperbole.

"You weren't joking about the last three weeks being a long year."

"Nope. And given our earlier discussions, Flash Fanboy Wolfgang Wells may not have been the jackass we knew and Sherloque might not be on the right timeline."

"Amplitude"

"Frequency is reality, Amplitude is corresponding timelines. Just go with it."

"Alright," Jesse sighed and patting her stomache. 

"So I know you said I couldn't take the scanner home," Cisco started hesitantly.

Jesse snickered, "In the morning we'll get you another one, and the data Jay has gotten for us so you can be sure."

"Thank you," Cisco grinned. 

"I'm going to take care of dishes. We still have 12 hours before Cisco's ticket comes up. How do we feel about A New Hope, original edition." Cisco's interest was immediately peaked.

"Original edition?"

"Uhuh." He squinted his eyes at her,

"Han Shot first?"

"Han was the only one to get a shot in." Harry added, grinning at his daughter, eyebrows up. "We'll go get it set up." 

Harry got up as the plates in front of them along with Jesse herself vanished in Flash like fashion. She yelled from the kitchen,

"I'll make popcorn."

"Yes!" Cisco jumped up following Harry, "I am all about this!" 

Harry led them upstairs to the den and hit a few buttons on the side of the desk. A projection screen lowered over top a bookshelf and a projector lowered from the ceiling while the couch moved itself forward. Cisco was impressed. Even more so when the heard the surround sound system turn on.

"Nice!" Harry laughed as Cisco hopped over the back of the couch placing himself firmly in the middle, though honestly there was enough room for five to fit snuggly. 

Harry brought up some sort of digital library and there it was, 'Star Wars: Original Edition.' It didn't even have the added title of A New Hope on the cover icon. Harry sat next to him though with plenty of room to spare. 

Jesse came up shortly after with ginormous bowl of popcorn. Cisco would think she'd over made the snack if he hadn't known she was a speedster.

"Scooch." She motioned Cisco over towards her father.

"I feel like I'm setting a bad precedent here." 

She raised an eyebrow, "You've already set several, which one are you talking about?" 

Cisco spluttered a bit, "Letting you be bossy."

"Letting me be bossy?"

"Yeah."

"It's not being bossy when there's logic involved."

"I see no logic here."

"The logic is that if you actually disagree with something I'm saying you'll make your opinion known." She rolled her eyes up probably considering what she had just said, then added, "Whether or not I listen is another matter."

"Like when I told you we were all going to stay put but you knocked H.R. out and took off anyway?" That was literally the only time he'd, very specifically told her no. Cisco hadn't for the life of him known why he'd thought a barely out of her teens Wells would listen to him. He'd tried anyway.

"You knocked H.R. out? When?" Harry asked, apparently intrigued by the idea of his daughter hitting someone with his face. Or maybe he really just didn't like H. R.

"Oh. That hasn't come up? R. I. P. H. R."

"No. No it hasn't." Harry side eyed Cisco at his R. I. P. comment but his eyes were back on his daughter in short order. Jesse frowned and sat between Cisco and her Father with her bowl of popcorn to share apparently taking Cisco's barb as 'letting his opinion be known.'

"Please hit play Dad." Harry just sat there eye brows raised waiting for an answer out of one of them. "I'll tell you later, we're on a schedule here."

"Definitely later," Harry agreed.

Watching the original in it's intended state was brilliant. No CGI characters or things, Han shot first thank you very much, no slug-like Jabba out doing his own dirty work. Honestly it was well worth the trip to Earth-2 even if none of this had been intended. When they got to the Death Star Jesse's phone blared an alert. Harry paused it,

"Quick business. I already got the guest room ready. I'll be back before 6AM to pick you up." Cisco nodded.

"Thanks."

"Be careful Quick."

"Always Dad." Harry sighed as Jesse gave Cisco the bowl of popcorn and took off with a blast of wind. Harry did move toward him then after unpausing the movie, just close enough to comfortably get popcorn. Somehow it now felt like too much space. He enjoyed the rest of the movie nonetheless, though he had to start fighting off sleep at the trench runs. 

Cisco yawned when the credits started rolling. He was about to excuse himself when he realized that Harry was staring at him.

"What?"

"You're tired." It wasn't a question and it was super obvious so Cisco wondered at the observation.

"Been a long day," Harry wasn't staring, now that he took notice of it, Harry was searching for something. Rather probably someone.

"Your Cisco always talk durring movies or something?" 

Harry jolted a bit, "Quite a lot actually."

"Was that why the subtitles were on? Not hard of hearing, just expecting me to talk your ear of."

"Expecting no. Preparing for, yes." 

Cisco snorted, "I do too, for movies I've watched before and am sharing with someone else. Haven't watched the original before, and it's a different Earth. Might not even be the same."

"So I should have been talking your ear off instead then?" Harry tilted his head, still searching.

"Throwing popcorn at yourself to get yourself to stop talking seems inefficient." 

Harry snorted, "Oh?"

"My Harry had me pretty well trained to stop talking. Catch the popcorn, eat the popcorn, stop talking cause he wasn't paying attention anyway." Cisco paused trying to think but coming up empty, "Never had me turn the subtitles on though."

"Didn't think your back water earth had them, never thought to ask." Harry stopped searching and smirked Cisco reached over Harry and grabbed a pillow, then promptly wacked him with it. Cisco wasn't sure he'd ever heard Harry properly giggle before, but it was a sound to behold, one Harry quickly strangled off and rolled his eyes in exasperation at. The sound left Cisco somewhat distracted, distracted enough for Harry to grab the popcorn bowl and then the pillow to retaliate.

"I am way too tired for a pillow fight."

"You started it." Harry placed the mostly empty bowl on the side table and threw the pillow over to his desk. Cisco grabbed the other pillow on his side of the couch,

"And I'm finishing it." Harry squinted and held himself in a somewhat defensive position, but Cisco wasn't going in for a hit. He puffed it up and placed it gently next to Harry's thigh and then put his head on the pillow, moving his feet off the floor to lay down on his side and curl up on the couch.

Harry stiffened for a moment before he relaxed. Cisco sighed, the angle was a little off, but he didn't want to trap the man. 

He half expected Harry to bring up the perfectly good guest room Jesse had apparently made up, but instead Harry started combing his fingers through Cisco's hair. He couldn't help but hum happily at the attention. He continued to feel himself slipping off into unconsciousness, but for the sake of Harry and whatever Cisco he knew, he stopped his descent into sleep. 

"Harry?" He whispered, barely audable.

"Hmm?" Harry whispered back.

"Do me a favor?"

"What's that?"

"If you want. If you find your Cisco. Bring him over to watch this when he's awake enough to talk your ear off. If you want him to stay, tell him he doesn't have to go back to Earth-1. He might still go back, but I can almost guarantee he'll at least be around a hell of a lot more. If you want."

"You'd want that?" Cisco turned on to his back to look up at Harry who was leaning back. His hand resting on Cisco's shoulder now. A familiar comfort, something else that he missed.

"If yours is anything like me, then yeah. Very much."

Harry was just staring at the blank projector screen, the projector having auto turned off a while ago. Cisco assumed the conversation was over. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against Harry's arm. He was almost asleep when Harry spoke again, whispering his name.

"Cisco?"

Cisco jolted awake, a rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins so much so that he had to suppress a vibe from taking hold. 

"Hmm?" Cisco settled his head back down after lifting it up, looking back at Harry, though he couldn't tell much in the dark aside from where Harry was looking.

"After the Harrisons, when I thought about putting myself in Devoe's shoes. What were you actually going to say?"

Cisco squinted his eyes in confusion, trying to remember what Harry could be talking about, if it was even something that had happened for his Harry. It took him a moment to track down the memory, but he did find it. He smiled,

"I don't honestly remember what I was going to say, but it was about feelings, and I remember feeling proud of you."

Harry audibly swallowed before looking back down to Cisco, "Proud?"

"Yeah. I was watching you wither in real time and you were still trying Harry. You'd just given me a real apology and that actually kind of terrified me. I was terrified of who you might end up as but I was proud that you weren't giving up."

Harry's gaze was indecipherable in the dark, but it was a palpable feeling. Harry brushed his thumb over Cisco's shoulder a couple times, almost like a light pat on the back, but without moving his hand.

"Would you have asked that, if I was your Cisco?" Cisco asked, curious if these were honest questions or insight checks.

"No," he swallowed again, still looking away, "you said to ask him, if I wanted to. Why give me the option if you thought I wouldn't want to?"

Cisco opened his mouth with nothing prepared and closed it. Shocked by how unbelievably direct this was. Cisco realized he'd assumed Harry would just know. He'd always known. He'd always called him out and replied in kind to what Cisco had meant rather than what he said.

"You don't know?"

"I'd rather not guess." Harry looked back at Cisco and for probably the first time in a while, Cisco made the effort to say what he actually meant.

"In case you feel like you lost a limb as much as I do. So you'd know that getting it back, at least part time, was an option."

"A limb?" He sounded amused by it.

"Sounds less desperate than other half." Cisco admitted, somewhat reluctantly.

"Thought that was Cynthia?"

"We'll call that a fractured scull, hurts like hell and can cause a lot of damage for a good while, but it will heal, is healing. But lost limbs don't grow back. But sometimes if enough of it is saved, sometimes lost limbs can be reattached."

"That explains the limb analogy…" Harry didn't press, but he left it open.

"Don't know how to explain it without sounding like a damn English major." Cisco wasn't even sure he wanted to try. Harry was… Harry was complicated in a way that almost no other being was complicated. Cisco's relationship to any Wells was really, but Harry in particular…

"Go for it, I have all of my language back." Cisco sighed, considering it. He adjusted the pillow behind him so his neck wouldn't get a crick in it. Not exactly trapping Harry, but getting up abruptly without shoving Cisco off the couch was out.

"You remember Newton's first law?" Cisco asked, making sure he'd be on the same page before trying to get this out.

"Reacquired it my first week back."

"Okay. By other half I mean my equal and opposite reaction. Arguably my superior, but that's not the point here. The point is I got used to having an opposing magnetic pole nearby. Pushing eachother, mirroring eachother, occasionally flipping sides to pull together rather than push in one direction or another. 

"I feel as directionless as a compass on a planet with no north pole. Cynthia wasn't honestly around enough for that feeling to be from us breaking up and our powers still have us somewhat connected, though that's fading, ergo not the missing other half in this particularly drawn out overly poetical analogy." Cisco sighed wondering if that had even made any sense.

"Is they what this is?" Harry asked him, but without context. 

"What?"

"Are we a couple of magnets?" He clarified. 

Cisco didn't have any other good way to explain how keenly he felt Harry's absence. So he asked,

"You have any better analogies?"

"Nothing that wouldn't get me in trouble." Harry shot back almost immediately.

"Oh really?" Cisco thought of what could possibly get Harry in trouble. Parasite came to mind, symbiote would be less aggravating. 

"Yes really."

"Like what, a Tok'ra?"

"What's a Tok'ra?"

Cisco glared in to the dark, "I thought you guys had Stargate?"

"You mean Goa'uld?"

"The consent asking version of Goa'uld."

"Pretty sure that wasn't in the movie."

"We had a movie and a couple of TV shows, the Tok'ra were in the TV show."

"Okay," Harry paused, probably thinking it over, "but no."

"Jimmy cricket?" Cisco tried again, something a little less inflammatory.

"Warmer."

Cisco could hear his grin and thought, "Mushu?"

"Colder"

"I swear if it's a tick I will tackle you." Cisco stated after going back to the worst possible option.

"See, nothing I wouldn't get in trouble for?" Cisco couldn't see his face but he heard the teasing in it that most others would take at face value. He took the bait anyway,

"Why you-"

"-But rat, not tick."

That threw Cisco for a loop, "Huh? Rat?"

"I have a daughter!"

"Non sequitur much?"

"Ratatouille Ramon."

It all became very clear at that moment, "Oh my god you lost your puppeteer?"

Harry snorted, "I take it back I lost my human, I am the Rat."

"Oh you're definitely a Rat," Cisco chortled.

"That's not…"

Harry removed the pillow from under Cisco's head which had Cisco abruptly landing the back of his head on Harry's leg. Harry let out a burst of air and dropped the pillow on Cisco's head while bending forward in pain which had Cisco rolling over face first on to the floor with a giant thud.

"Ow."

"Sorry, was supposed to hit you with the pillow, not dump you on the floor." Harry rasped out.

Cisco rolled over on to his back, "Do you guys have a Hazzard? Cause that felt like a Hazzard moment."

"Pretty sure that was just my bad judgement and gravity."

Cisco nodded to himself, "Gravity has now reached your level as an official dick." Null's gravity abilties not withstanding, those were already bad.

"Good to know a universal force of nature can finally fill the same britches I do," Harry stretched out some, sounding better now.

Cisco was about to reply when a loud but clearly muffled snort came from the hallway. Cisco closed his eyes and raised his voice to reach the hallway,

"Ya know, one of these days you're going to eavesdrop on something you can't unhear. It will scar you and you will regret it for the rest of your life."

The light turned on and both Harry and Cisco winced at the sudden brightness. 

"Is it masochistic to look forward to that day." Jesse asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Depends the context, which would also determine the creep factor." Cisco replied, sitting up as he did so.

"Everything go alright?" Harry asked in lieu of continuing that train of thought.

"Yeah. I'll tell you tomorrow. But for now, I'm heading to bed." Jesse leaned back moving over to her room and turning the hallway entry light on. Cisco groaned as he stood up and turned to look at Harry, still sitting down.

"See you tomorrow?" He asked, yawning again.

"Bright and early." Harry smiled softly, "We'll have coffee waiting."

Cisco grinned and nodded they'd leave that conversation where it had ended for the time being. It would have probably just devolved onto a wrestling match anyway.

"Night Harry."

"Goodnight Ramon. Sleep well." 

Cisco walked out of the den and over to the guest room with every intention of doing just that, finally getting some decent sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go in this prequel of sorts. Last chapter will be up on Tuesday.


	6. Find your Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saying goodbye is really getting old. But perhaps, when things get sorted, it won't have to be goodbye anymore.

Cisco sat in the breach room waiting for Harry to grab him a scanner like the one he'd looked at the previous day and for Jesse to return from Earth-3 with a USB containing the most updated data available on the FSAIF universes.

He took the moment alone to consider just how unbelievably domestic that morning had been. There'd been similar situations at STAR labs on Earth-1 when the two of them had stayed there, when Cisco crashed on a cot of his own rather than head home.

But waking up from the best sleep he'd had in a very, very long time to Harry gently shaking his shoulder, coffee mug in hand paired with a brash order to get up… that was next level.

Breakfast had been a simple affair with barely remembered conversation, at least until the coffee kicked in.

When he'd finally tuned in to reality, it was to Jesse going on about what the Quick business of the previous night had been. Harry listened to her with rapt attention, his hand at some point having found and attached itself to Cisco's shoulder. Cisco had leaned in and listened just as attentively.

It had been insanely domestic and Cisco wanted it, very badly. He wanted a family. His own family. He wanted normalcy.

His heart hurt knowing that it wouldn't be with Cynthia. Crossed internal wires had him considering this instead. Maybe. Odd couple style, or maybe more two and a half men… Which would be more two men and a woman, but that just did noooot sound right. It was all irrelevant anyway, this wasn't his Earth-2.

Distance and time would give him perspective. One way or another.

Cisco startled as a breach opened and Jesse walked through.

"All the data and notes we currently have," She handed the USB stick over and Cisco took it.

"Thanks!"

She nodded then looked at him hopefully, "Given that we have your specific amplitude singled out, we can send updates if you'd like?"

"Sure. Any chance this includes how Jay's keeping track of it?" Cisco asked, wondering if he'd be able to rig up his own monitoring system.

"Yes. It's not something we can really do discreetly here, but you might be able to at your STAR labs, if an FSAIF afflicted Earth can record any of it anyway."

"I'll see what I can do. If I get anything I can send that to both of you." Cisco paused for a moment, considering what he'd need for that, "This does have-"

Jesse interrupted, apparently on the same page, "-Our frequency and amplitude, yes."

"Cool." He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about keeping in contact with a Harry and Jesse that wasn't his Harry and Jesse… And Jay. But for the sake of curiosity and science…

"Thank you Cisco. It'll be good to have another set of eyes looking at this."

"Yeah. If I figure it out, might even get my timelines' Jay and Jesse in on it."

Jesse visibly suppressed a smirk and looked like she was about to say something that Cisco would regret hearing when they heard Harry finally come back.

"Here." Harry handed Cisco something very similar, but not exactly the same as the scanner he'd taken apart and put back together, A bit bulkier. "It's a slightly older model. But it checks out. No one will miss it."

"Famous last words," cisco smirked as Harry rolled his eyes, "Thanks Harry."

"Mmhmm." Harry turned to his daughter who had made her way to the main computer, pulling up something on the monitors, "How's Jay?"

"A little worried that Vibe missed his own amplitude, but given you traveled with an extrapolator instead, he figures that the math is correct. I'm just going over some of the new stuff to see if anything pops out as unusual for our normal level of unusual."

"How long have I got?" Cisco asked, just to be sure they had enough time for goodbyes. He'd only have three seconds to open the breach and jump through after all.

"Fifteen minutes. I'll give you a few minutes warning."

Cisco snorted, "Thanks."

Harry stopped looking at whatever Jesse was speedster reading through and sat next to Cisco.

"Just so you know, I don't think of myself as a rat and you as my human."

"Oh good," Cisco smiled wondering what brought Harry back to this but not willing to pass up the opportunity to take a dig at him. "I was a little worried your sense of identity had really been screwed with."

"Really?" Harry nudged his shoulder against Cisco's in retaliation, "But no, I've just never really put much thought in to labels beyond titles. The only time I ever really did was when I was teeing up for Grodd bait with you. Until last night, anyway."

"Oh?" Cisco raised an eyebrow, and Harry nodded.

"After thinking about it, Barry's the rat, you're the hair, I'm the human."

"Hah! I'll tell Barry you said that." Cisco could already imagine the look on Barry's face.

"Please don't." Harry stared at him completely deadpan, willing Cisco into agreeing to say nothing. Cisco by this point, however, was completely impervious to the look.

"Do I also qualify as a rat in this instance?" Jesse piped up from the back. Cisco turned away from Harry's stare to look at her,

"I feel like you're less likely to be a rat."

"If I was the hair and Ramon was the human then yes," Harry added and Cisco turned back around to face Harry.

"Pretty sure at that point either of them could be the rat."

"Probably."

"Why make me the hair then?"

"You're the one with all the hair."

Which was true, but Harry had Hair too, nice hair! It was even in his name. Then a thought occurred to him and he smiled, all teeth.

"That's… hairist! I'm definitely the human since I have all the hair and you happen to be-"

"-don't." Harry looked at him sternly, but Cisco finished off the pun anyway.

"Harry."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Yes I'm Harry therefore I have the hair, which is you."

"Why are you two arguing over this?" Jesse asked, sounding somewhat amused, but also exasperated. Cisco and Harry made eye contact, landing themselves back on the same page.

Cisco started, "Left side of the hair, right side of the human,"

"Right side of the hair, left side of the human. Boom," Harry finished.

After a moment Cisco added, "Barry and Jesse take turns being the guiding rat."

"Accurate."

"Caitlin too, when she's in doctor mode."

"Yup. West-Allen when she's feeling particularly irate."

"Mmmhmm. Pretty sure everyone else would just ask nicely."

They sat on it for a moment before Jesse asked, "Would they though?"

"Eeeeeeeh." Harry and Cisco made the same half disbelieving but still considering sound.

"Ya know what, I'm not passing up calling Ralph a Rat," Cisco relented first.

"D. A. Cecile-"

"-Was literally in both of our heads. Ratted me out for thinking about Bulbasaur."

"You did ask her to read your mind."

"Whatever Harry. Also Baby Jenna…" Cisco wasn't exactly sure, but he was fairly certain...

"Babies… can be tail-less rats if you don't keep an eye on them." Harry added, "And West dated Jesse."

"Oh yes, very Rat-like," Cisco rolled his eyes.

"Are you two done?" Jesse asked, somewhat miffed looking.

"Nope. Yup. We're good. We good Harry?"

"We good. Detective West is not a Rat," Harry nodded.

"I concur," Cisco nodded too.

Jesse snorted at the both of them, "Good, there's a few things I want to go over with Cisco before we send him off."

Harry raised his hands in surrender as Cisco stood up to go over to the monitor displaying different frequencies with different amplitudes.

They probably lost Harry in some of the physics of the discussion, but that didn't stop him from standing next to Cisco and trying to pay attention anyway.

"Three minutes," Jesse said when they'd gotten through everything. "Hugs all around."

Cisco snorted, pretty sure he'd never actually gotten a hug out of her before, "All right, bring it in."

He was expecting a quick hug, but when Harry bear hugged the both of them all he could to was hang on and laugh along with them.

"Take care of yourself Cisco."

"Same to you Jesse."

Harry let go as did Jesse and Cisco, though Jesse took a moment before moving saying,

"Don't forget to get yourself a pair of glasses before that double vision becomes a problem again."

"Yes Ma'am. And uh, thanks… for everything," Cisco said it as sincerely as possible.

"Uhuh." She smirked and took a few steps over towards where the extrapolators were, leaving him with Harry who looked nearly as bashful as the day he left. Emotions then, they were going to get into emotions. Perfect.

"I can't find mine, but you can find yours. Tell him, what you told me."

"Tell him what? I told you a lot."

"Yeah. And tell him all of it. Just make sure he isn't drinking anything when you tell him where we just landed on the Ratatouille analogy."

"You realize that by saying that I now MUST make sure that he IS drinking something when I tell him that."

Harry laughed, "Come here ya Jackwagon."

Harry pulled him in for another hug and Cisco was more than willing to stay there as long as he could, which wouldn't be for very long regardless due to time constraints.

"Just don't be surprised if whatever he's drinking ends up on your face."

Cisco smiled, "A spit take? For real?"

"Quite possibly," Harry whispered, tightening the hug for a moment before letting go, Cisco slowly following, though instead of letting go completely, he left a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"As much as there's only one Harry for your Cisco, there's only one Harry for me. But you're not a half bad close second," Cisco smiled as Harry snorted looking at the floor before looking back up sadly.

"Be safe Ramon."

"I will. You too."

"Twenty seconds," Jesse advised and Cisco grabbed his bag, double checking the scanner and USB were packed.

Jesse started counting down from ten as Cisco looked at both of them for what could be the last time, but universe willing, wouldn't be the last he'd see of them, his them anyway.

When she hit zero and opened the breach Cisco jumped through immediately without a second look back, simply because there wasn't time.

When Cisco landed on the other side, he knew he'd need to scan something to verify his amplitude matched up, just to be safe. He knew he had Flash business to handle and a few GB's worth of excel data sheets to go through. More than anything else though, he knew he needed to get a pair of fashionable glasses. Without them, he might just end up going a little insane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are at the end. I am curious as to what you all think about which Cisco this is vs what Harry and Jesse this is. Let me know.
> 
> As for part two, where canon actually diverges, it might be a month or two before I'm ready to put that out. I'm still ironing out a few things to make sure it makes sense with what's coming in part three.

**Author's Note:**

> Updates Tuesday and Friday nights.


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